Catalyst

This week on Catalyst, Tammy speaks with Trey Hickey, Lead Process Engineer at General Motor’s Spring Hill facility and a finalist for the Next Generation Leadership at the Manufacturing Leadership Awards. With his background in construction then later getting his MBA, Trey explains why he sees leadership as serving others: clearing roadblocks and building the trust that helps people work together. He explains why he leads from beside his team rather than above it, and offers advice for both sides of the generational handoff: young engineers belong at the table, and senior leaders need to run in step with the next generation. They also explore how emerging leaders and the next workforce wave can use AI to tap into generations of accumulated knowledge and do their best work.
Please note that the views expressed may not necessarily be those of NTT DATA
Links:
Trey Hickey
Manufacturing Leadership Awards
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This week on Catalyst, Tammy Soares speaks with Scott Strickland, Chief Commercial Officer at Wyndham Hotels and Resorts. From his first big job at 26, building IT infrastructure for a factory in Argentina, to leading marketing, loyalty, global sales, and PR today, Scott credits one skill with carrying him through: the ability to tell a clear story and rally people around a vision. He explains how Wyndham is using technology to make hospitality more human, not less, including AI in its call centers that supports both team members and guests. Scott and Tammy also get into what bringing “dad energy” to leadership looks like and why being approachable matters. Scott closes with a challenge: take ownership of your career, because if you don’t, you’re a passenger.
Please note that the views expressed may not necessarily be those of NTT DATA
Links:
Scott Strickland
Our Iceberg is Melting - John Kotter
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In this episode from the archives Tammy is joined by speaker, storyteller and cultural wayfinder Kainoa Horcajo. Through his firm Mo’olelo Group, Kainoa has found a way to transform Hawaiian wisdom into business insights and experience design. Kainoa and Tammy discuss the importance of storytelling and how finding the why and the how is the most important thing a business can do. Kainoa also shares how he finds the balance between tradition and innovation and how to weave culture into the very fiber of your business.
Please note that the views expressed may not necessarily be those of NTT DATA
Links:
Kainoa Horcajo
Mo’olelo Group
Simon Sinek
Organic intelligence: A conversation with Rika Nakazawa
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This week on Catalyst, Tammy is joined by Tony Glebe, executive advisor at IMA Financial Group. Tony has spent more than 25 years in consulting, operator roles, healthcare, and now commercial insurance, where he works with executives and investors building companies in highly regulated industries. Tony traces his business mindset back to several generations of Minnesota farmers, and explains how that perspective shapes the way he balances innovation with real-world risk today. He and Tammy talk about why handing every employee an AI tool and hoping for the best can create enterprise-level chaos, and why the strongest AI strategies start with customer and business problems rather than the technology itself. They also dig into the risks AI introduces, including inaccurate information, bias, and the unsettling possibility of AI acting on its own, and why Tony sees insurance as an innovation accelerant rather than just a cost of doing business.
Please note that the views expressed may not necessarily be those of NTT DATA
Links:
Tony Glebe
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This week on Catalyst, Tammy is joined by Deepesh Chandra, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital and Information Officer at Montefiore Einstein, one of New York’s most mission-driven health systems. Deepesh has spent more than 20 years in healthcare and technology, with stops at McKinsey, Mount Sinai, and Bon Secours Mercy Health. He started out believing technological change was an engineering problem, then began to see that the hardest part of the project was actually human. Deepesh and Tammy talk about starting with the human constraint rather than the technology’s capability and bringing patients and clinicians in from day one. They also make the case that resistance isn’t something to fear, it’s where collective problem-solving begins.
Please note that the views expressed may not necessarily be those of NTT DATA
Links:
Deepesh Chandra
The Human-in-the-loop is Not a Control - Substack Article
Nexus 2026
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